You can’t pretend urgent care centers aren’t here, and you can’t help but notice when a board-certified emergency physician colleague goes to work for one.

What should ACEP do about it?

The first step to answering that is a mission of ACEP’s newest fact-finding group, the Urgent Care Task Force, which met for the first time on Sept. 30 during ACEP24 in Las Vegas.

Created by Immediate Past President Aisha T. Terry, MD, MPH, FACEP, co-chaired by Ohio emergency physician and ACEP Past President (2008–09) Nicholas Jouriles, MD, FACEP, and California emergency physician and urgent care physician Joe Toscano, MD, and supported by current ACEP President Alison J. Haddock, MD, FACEP, the Urgent Care Task Force is a proactive step toward identifying where ACEP and emergency physicians fit in the urgent care center practice setting and how engagement might benefit members—both in and out of these facilities.

The creation of the Task Force comes at a time when urgent care centers continue to establish themselves as a growing part of the health care system.

Some say they bridge a gap between primary care physicians and emergency departments (EDs). Others say they provide substandard patient care, particularly if they lack board-certified emergency physicians as part of the staffing model.

“One of the key objectives is to figure out what is the landscape today and how it might change,” said Dr. Terry, who stopped by the first Task Force meeting to provide direction. “Physicians are taking a greater role in urgent care centers, so we need to think about the skill set necessary to do that well and how it differs from our skill set that we currently have. What new skills might we need to ensure that we’re prepared to do it? And I don’t think we can have this conversation without some recognition of the role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in that space, as well.”

The urgent care industry has seen exponential growth in recent years.

According to the College of Urgent Care Medicine, the United States is home to approximately 14,000 urgent care centers and 27,000 practicing clinicians. The association was established in 2004 and now serves as the leading organization for the industry, representing more than 3,500 member centers and providers. This industry, though still in its relative infancy compared to EDs, has become an alternative for patients seeking immediate care for non–life-threatening conditions.